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July 11, 2012

Trump & Wallander

I love the first comment on my Guardian Trump piece today -- "I don't think he'll comb over to your way of thinking, Lesley." Happily I don't think he needs to. The Donald may have opened his golf empire at Balmedie but somehow I doubt he'll be staying the course (geddit). Actually the Guardian is a great read today with thoughtful pieces on the downside of Freedom of Info legislation, the Olympics becoming a corporate nightmare and security crackdown and the scandal that 1 in 6 peers has financial links to the banking industry (THAT's why Lords reform matters in an economic crisis by the way.) All subjects covered in today's Lesley Riddoch podcast now online here. Also an interesting piece in Comment is Free suggesting climate change will make the English (sic) character more Nordic. Perhaps the writer doesn't know it's also raining north of the border or perhaps (charitably) she thinks Scots are already Nordic. Either way, my bigger grouse is that damp summers like the one we're having are not Baltic! Rain in July with dreich dampness ain't a feature of the continental climate the inner Nordics enjoy - and my ol man and I have the photies and tans after a cycling holiday of the Finnish Aland Islands to prove it! (see above) Admittedly that was a few years back - so I'm not sure how the weather's been this year. But strange how southern commentators always need to link dreichness with the Nordics …and Sweden in particular. Meanwhile call me a purist but K Branagh's much lauded Wallander seems profoundly un-Swedish to me. It's "British" to the core -- shouty, cor blimey, scruffy & just gloomy not atmospheric. Give me the Krister Henriksson Yellow Bird version any day. Right. I feel better now.